Posts Tagged ‘chris harris’

Top Gear UK’s rebooted first season has come and gone. The ratings started off well, but spiraled into a free fall as fast as Chris Evans’ career. But enough about him, we wanted to see more of Chris Harris on the show and we have high hopes for next season. Now in the mean time, BBC America has given Chris Harris his own show in the off season to keep us all entertained. Harris’ new show is called “Chris Harris on Cars”, which is the original name of Harris’ show on YouTube, and will air July 11

Sarah Barnett, President of BBC America, stated that “Chris Harris on Cars’ is mischievous, insightful and downright entertaining; we think BBC America viewers will love it.” The show, which will begin next week, will “experiment and explore the newest, fastest and coolest cars on the road.” This is everything that we wanted to see of Chris Harris on the new Top Gear. Even though Harris was trying to find his stride on Top Gear, we know that under his own management he’ll be producing some of the best automotive TV journalism out there.

It took only the premiere episode of the rebooted UK TV show to tell audiences that lead host Chris Evans was really not a well fit for the dynamics of Top Gear. After only taking in half the viewers in the second episode, that sealed the deal. Top Gear decided to switch things around in the third episode by bring in Extra Gear hosts Chris Harris and Rory Reid. Both personalities have been a great hit on their Extra Gear features, but audiences believed that they may even make better Top Gear hosts.

So with that said, Chris Evans may start to take a smaller role in future episodes of the new Top Gear leaving Harris and Reid with more air time. Matt Leblanc will continue his role as host, and little has been said about Sabine Schmitz. She’s an amazing driver, and can definitely talk the talk, but her personality has yet to truly come through in the show.

We are looking forward to see where this shake up will take things for Top Gear. We still have hope for the show.

It’s a car that looks like it was just unveiled by a manufacturer as their latest concept vehicle, one that would certainly never enter production. The BMW i8 has defied all reasoning and has not only entered production, but has been hitting the roads. Here, Chris Harris takes the i8 out for a rip on some canyon roads just outside of Los Angeles and shares his thoughts on how it drives. He also tested in a more conventional scenario taking the i8 through traffic and for a quick bite at In-N-Out.

To refresh, the BMW i8 is powered by a turbo-charged 1.5L 3-cylinder gasoline engine that pumps out 231 horsepower and 236 lb-ft of torque. Decent, but definitely not what you want powering a sports car of any sort. Coupled to the front wheels is an electric motor that provides a further 131 horsepower and 184 lb-ft of torque for a combined total of 362 horsepower and 420 lb-ft of torque. That’s more like it! The hybrid powerplant is capable of rocketing the i8 from 0-60 in 4.4 seconds thanks in part to its roughly 3200lb weight. Oh, and it does all this while only consuming just 2.5L / 100km.

For those of you who are looking forward to some hooning, remember that this was filmed on open public roads. Another note is the tire choice for this particular test. The BMW i8 is typically equipped with some narrow rubber (195 fronts and 215 rears) but this particular model that Chris Harris took out was equipped with the optional 215s up front and 245s in the rear.

I spent a bit of time with the new SL63 AMG at the AMG Performance Tour last year, and was blown away by how good the SL63 was on the track. It’s a completely different car than the predecessor, no longer is it a big boat, but an actual bit of a weapon on the racetrack. Chris Harris compares the new SL63 against the BMW M6 in this week’s Drive episode, as the Ultimate Driving Machine has to prove that it still deserves the moniker.